


for a moment

by jeyjeyjetplane



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Co-workers, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeyjeyjetplane/pseuds/jeyjeyjetplane
Summary: A flustered Lily Evans meets a surprisingly smooth James Potter on the train home.





	for a moment

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on the train to work a few weeks ago. Be gentle.

_ He was staring at her _ . Lily glanced to her right again, trying to be sly, and his eyes were locked on her face. He met her eyes for what felt like an age, and tipped her a nod before finally  _ finally  _ dropping his gaze. He reset his feet slightly, flicking his eyes up to the board before taking his phone out, joining the crowd of other commuters glued to their technology. 

She had seen him before, of course. In passing, mostly. Dumbledore and McGonagall was a small firm, even if it spanned three different floors of a high rise; it would make sense that they had seen each other before. 

She knew his name, had seen it on the door of his office.  **James Potter, senior paralegal** , glinting gold in the fluorescent lights of the third floor pit **.** Her own position - senior associate for Horace Slughorn - forced her to visit the third floor constantly, far from the safety of her cubicle on the fifth floor. He never seemed to be in his plush office with the lovely dark cherry desk, so she didn’t often see him, but it was pretty hard to forget his face and wide, charming smile. 

And so, Lily stood there, waiting for the train, forcing herself not to look over at him again, check if he was still looking at her, lock eyes with him again. 

She looked again, unable to resist. Not wanting to resist, really; she was pleased that he didn’t seem to be able to resist looking at her. She preened under his approving gaze, and ran a hand through her long, dark red hair, resetting it against her trench coat so that it fell just so. She pursed her lips a little, smiling shyly at him, then tore her gaze away again, blushing at her sudden forwardness.  _ Get it together, Lily!  _

The train came, breaking the tension that maybe only she felt. She clamoured on, pushing through the people to snag a seat. Immediately, she pulled out a book, some horror novel that her dad had been raving about for weeks, and tried to lose herself in it, tried to discount the interaction as nothing, a moment to be forgotten, but found she couldn’t. She quickly gave up on reading, but sat with the book still open in front of her, thinking.  _ Why have I never seen him on this train before? Why would be stare at me so blatantly, when he probably doesn’t even know my name?  _

She lost herself in thought, racking her brain for what she knew about him, other than his name and title and the lovely dark, curly hair. He had a reputation as a jokester, it seemed; she started her position a few months prior, and some joke involving him and a banana was the talk of the office. He also had a reputation as a bit of a flirt - the banana joke came with a backstory involving him and one of the junior partners exchanging what could be considered scandalous conversation over the copy machine. 

The train jolted around her, moving through the downtown tunnels toward the outskirts of the city. Slowly, the car she was in seemed to empty out, and her stop neared. She glanced up to see him, James Potter, with his face buried in his phone, horn-rimmed glasses slipping down his nose, brow furrowed. The train squealed to a stop and she stood up, brushing her skirt down over her legs. Quickly, she strutted to the door of the train, standing by for her stop.  

Almost immediately, she felt a shadow come over her, a body hovering by her left shoulder. She glanced quickly behind her, eyes widening to see him standing by her side. He was taller than she thought he was - he stood a full head taller than her. His eyes, a delightfully warm hazel brown, met hers, and his full lips quirked a smile at her. 

“Excuse me,” he said. “Do we work together?” 

Lily quirked an eyebrow at him. “Yes, we do. Mr. Potter.” 

He started a little, blanching ather sudden forwardness, and Lily let her face soften slightly. She turned her attention back to the doors in front of them. In the reflection, she could see that he was still staring at her intently. 

“Do you live around here?” he asked, voice rich and deep. 

Her mouth operated faster than her brain. “No, I just like to ride the trains for fun.”  _ Oh, for fuck’s sake, Lily, really? Do you have no chill whatsoever? _

At that, he let out a soft chuckle, and shifted his feet toward her a little. The doors opened and she quickly scurried down the steps and onto the platform, embarrassed, trying to escape.  _ Maybe he will forget by Monday.  _

He fell into step beside her easily, long legs closing the distance she was trying to create almost immediately, laughing the whole time under his breath. Lily slowed, accepting that he wasn’t going to allow her to run away. She tried to hide a flush of pleasure  _ he still wants to speak to me!  _ and watched him out of the corner of her eye. He brought a tanned hand up to his hair, tugging a little bit before ruffling it, then shoved the hand deeply into his pocket. He had untucked the blue Oxford shirt he has been wearing, tie long gone, and the shirt now hung freely around his narrow hips. His navy pants hugged his bum nicely as he walked, and Lily found herself staring a little, slowing her step even more so she could get the full effect as they climbed the stairs to the city above. 

“How do you like working at D&M?” 

“Hmm?” She blinked a few times up at him. His grin widened. 

“You’re new, yeah? How do you like it?

“I’ve been working there for months,” she stated plainly, confused. “I’ve left more than one thing on your desk for you from Slughorn.” 

“Oh, uhh, right. Well…”

“I like it, for the most part. I’ve always wanted to work in law, and Slughorn is a good boss. I don’t plan on staying long though, maybe a year or so. I want to work on international aid. Pushing paperwork for bankers and corporations isn’t exactly a dream come true, but…Horace will help me get what I want. Hopefully.” 

He nodded, urging her to continue, walking beside her as if it was nothing. 

“I need to make a good impression with him so that maybe I’ll be able to talk to Dumbledore himself about his previous aid trips. See if he can help me out a little. Put me in contact with someone.” 

“That’s brilliant! You should ask him! Hell, I’ll ask him for you if you want me to! D&M is a nice place, but the people we work with… I don’t know how attorneys do it sometimes. They’re all so...tedious.” 

Lily blushed, flattered. “It’s pretty hard sometimes. They aren’t very charitable people. Don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

“Why not? You’re very smart, you would think they would want to hear from you above all people.” 

“Oh...well, thank you. They just don’t like to be told no, I guess. It’s hard not to lose my temper sometimes, honestly; why hire a solicitor if you don’t want them to help you?” 

She continued on nervously. James nodded his head at her blathering, keeping pace with her the whole time, interjecting occasionally with a quick word of encouragement. Lily didn’t even realise she was ranting until she was standing on the stoop outside her flat, gesticulating as she spoke. James stood in front of her, eyes glued to her face, smiling slightly as she finished up. 

“Oh god, I’m ranting. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, it’s totally fine. It’s, er, nice to listen to. I feel like I’ve learned so much. You’ve even smarter than I knew.” 

Lily blushed again. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t apologise.” 

An awkwardness fell over them. Lily rocked back on her heels a little, standing over him on the middle stair, unsure of what she should say. He was lingering on the walkway, gazing up at her as if he was trying to read her face. 

“Well, this is me. Do you live around here? I’ve never seen you on my train before.” 

“Oh, uh, no. My buddy lives around here. A few blocks back. I’m just visiting.” He pointed over his shoulder at the way they had came. 

“Oh god, that’s so embarrassing! You should have told me to shut up so you could go see him instead of letting me babble on and make you miss your stop.” 

“No, it’s alright! I liked listening to you talk. I’m not missing anything.” He was smiling up at her, bright and wide. His eyes were burning appreciatively over her face, studying her. 

Lily nodded, trying to gather herself. “Oh. Okay.”

“You’re lovely to speak with. Or, really, listen to.” 

“Thank you. I think.” 

His smile crinkled his eyes for a moment. “I’m James. Potter. James Potter.” 

“I know.” 

“This is where you tell me your name.”

“Lily.” 

“Lily?”

“Evans.” 

“Good to meet you, Lily Evans.” 

“You as well, James Potter.” 

“Goodnight,” he said, reaching out for her hand. Lily placed her hand in his, and he shook it slightly, staring boldly into her eyes, palm lingering in hers. “I’ll see you at work on Monday?” 

“Right. Yes. See you Monday.” 

“I look forward to it.” He finally released her hand, and stepped back, turning a little when he reached the sidewalk again. He tipped her a wave as he walked away, one she very awkwardly returned as she watched him go. She pressed her fingers to her mouth slightly as he turned a corner, and sighed heavily, pushing the fringe from her forehead as she did so. After a moment, she turned away and up the final step, sliding quietly into the building and away from the already darkening evening. 


End file.
